Erdogan asks the European Union to “turn a new page”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed on Tuesday night during a phone call with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, his hope of opening a “new page” between his country and the European Union, in the first contact between the two sides since Brussels imposed sanctions on Ankara last week.

The Turkish presidency said in a statement that “at a time when Turkey wants to open a new page with the European Union, some are making strenuous efforts to provoke crises.”

Erdogan called for “saving” Turkish-European relations from this “vicious circle”, expressing his desire to “relaunch” dialogue with the European Union “looking at the whole situation” and “on the basis of mutual interests”.

The statement quoted the Turkish president as saying that the immigration agreement concluded by Turkey and the European Union in 2016 could constitute a starting point to create a more “positive” atmosphere between the two parties, highlighting his hope that “the European Union will be able to take a constructive and rational stance towards Turkey. “

The leaders of the European Union decided during the Brussels summit last Thursday to impose sanctions on Turkey for its “illegal and aggressive” actions in the Mediterranean against Greece and Cyprus, especially the gas exploration operations carried out by Ankara in recent years. months in the eastern Mediterranean in maritime zones in dispute of sovereignty. On it with these two.

For its part, Ankara considered these sanctions “biased and illegal”, accusing the European Union of becoming “hostage to one or two countries”.

Days after these European sanctions, the United States imposed sanctions on Turkey on Monday for the purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system.